The elk of Packwood, a town of about 1,500 in the Cascade foothills, are as much a signature here as logging used to be before this community turned to tourism and recreation for most of its dollars.

So it's no surprise there's an uproar over a state proposal — after 15 citizen complaints of elk damage — to allow hunting of the town's celebrity residents in a new area: a mile-deep corridor along both sides of Highway 12 from Morton through Packwood. There were seven complaints in 2007.